Maryland’s Biggest Toll Violator Owed $70,000

Maryland recently decided that people who didn’t pay their highway tolls would be at risk of losing their registrations. But they sweetened the deal by offering a brief period of amnesty--and it turns out that some people really needed it.

People with overdue toll payments (which amounted to $6.7 million throughout the state) were given a one-month period to pay their outstanding bills without incurring the additional $50 penalty you incur when you speed on through a toll lane without paying. Lots of people — approximately 137,000, in fact — took advantage of the grace period and paid up. One of them would’ve owed $70,000 in unpaid tolls, once all those additional fines were factored in.

But not everyone took advantage of the grace period. More than 116,000 vehicle owners in Maryland still have unpaid tolls on their account–and they risk fines and suspended registrations.